Reunion
by Evil Queen of the Demon Pandas
Summary: Prongs would like to welcome Padfoot home...


"Hey, Padfoot."

Sirius grinned. "Prongs! Good to see you!" He grabbed the other man into a rough, tight hug.

"All right, all right. That still _hurts_, y'know," James laughed. The two pounded each other on the back, man-style. Some things you just can't get rid of.

Sirius let go, shaking his dark hair out of his eyes. "It's not been the same without you, Prongs," he said.

"I know, I know." James sighed, his hazel eyes darkening. "It was too soon, wasn't it? We should've stayed."

Padfoot shrugged. "He's a good kid. Tough, like you two. He'll make it."

"Y'think?" Prongs pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I worry about him. Too much, probably. Just feel like...maybe we didn't do the right thing. Maybe it would've been better to..."

"To what? Let that bastard kill your kid?" Sirius scoffed. "There wasn't anything you could do, mate. The Dark-fucking-Lord would've offed him, too, if you hadn't fought."

"Yeah, I reckon." James ran a hand through his hair, giving it a wind-swept look.

"Listen to him, James. For once in his life he's said something useful," a sardonic female voice said.

Sirius hugged Lily, letting out a bark-like laugh. "I've said lots of useful things!" he protested.

Lily pretended to consider this for a minute, slipping her arms around James and resting her head on his shoulder. She sighed dramatically. "I _suppose_. Maybe. At _some_ point."

"Your girl's gotten soft since you've been gone, Prongs," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Couple decades ago she wouldn't have admitted that in a million years. OW!"

Lily shot him a smug look, flexing her fingers in and out of a fist. "James, dear, tell your friend to keep his big mouth shut, because he is now stuck with me for eternity and he does not want to spend the first two centuries of it black-and-blue," she said sweetly, kissing her husband. "I'm going to go see Mrs. Lovegood. _Nice_ woman, if a bit odd. Says she's got a daughter, too! A year younger than Harry, I think..." Her voice faded as she walked away, gesturing and talking to no one in particular.

James watched her retreating...'back'. "Damn. She's still got it," he said appreciatively.

Sirius threw back his head and laughed. "Still seventeen inside, eh, Prongs?"

James ran his hand through his hair again, grinning. "Damn right!"

"Can you believe your boy's already fifteen? Remember what we were like at that age?" Sirius shoved his hands deep in his pockets and sighed. "Nothing like him, I'll tell you that."

"Good," James snorted. "He needs a hell of a lot more brains than we did if he plans on staying out of here." He waved his hand lamely at their surroundings.

"He's got that. Smart kid," Sirius said, nodding slowly. A sly grin swept across his face. "Managed to hook himself a girl, too. Cute. Bit weepy, but guess I'm just used to Lily."

James puffed up proudly. "That's my son!"

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, he's definitely yours."

The two stood in comfortable silence for a moment, James watching in amusement as his best friend oggled a pair of women floating by.

"So, uh...Moony looking after him now?" he asked after the women had passed.

Sirius nodded, a dazed look still on his face. "Yeah. He was always the good one, right? Probably better we're not there to screw the kid up."

James laughed, though the sound was now tinged with sadness. "Yeah. Probably for the best."

Sirius punched Prongs' arm lightly. "Hey. He'll be fine. Harry's got your genes, remember?" he said gently.

"Yeah," James said, a sparkle of pride creeping back into his eyes. He grinned. "You want to go see the rest of the place?"

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Is the rest of the place like that?" he asked, pointing at a particularly scantily clad woman nearby.

James chuckled. "Some of it."

"What're we standing at the door for?" Padfoot demanded, charging past James and deeper into the rose light before them. James followed, deliberately ambling along as slow as he could. Sirius danced around anxiously at the tall golden gates, like a dog begging to go out.

James paused a few feet away, looking at his friend fondly. "Hey, Padfoot?"

Sirius stopped pacing for a moment. "Yeah, Prongs?"

"Welcome home."

**A/N**: Saw an avatar that said: "Prongs would like to welcome Padfoot home" and felt inspired to write this. Oh, and it is set just after Sirius's death, so the girl he's referring to is Cho, not Ginny. Just thought I'd make that clear.


End file.
